Dateline – Naples, Italy
The seas calmed yesterday by late afternoon and were smooth as glass as we once again entered the Straits of Messina between Sicily and the toe of Italy (neither Scylla nor Charybdis being evident). This was an after dark traverse so it was mainly watching the lights on each shore get closer and closer as we approached the narrows. Most of this was done through the dining room windows as we had a leisurely meal (duck for me, risotto for Thomas) and followed that up with some time walking on deck to get the food to settle.
When we awoke this morning, we were tied at the pier in Naples. I have been to Naples before, it was a bit of a rough port town then and such it seems to remain. We didn’t stay long but rather boarded a bus for Pompeii. As it was late in the season, the crowds were thin and it was possible to see the ruins without jostling too many elbows. I had been here before as well, but that was 42 years ago. Back then, it was pretty much a free for all and you could wander wherever. Now it is much more regimented and they are strictly controlling the number of visitors to a maximum of 20,000 a day. (A few years ago, they would routinely admit 70-80,000). Today, seemed like it was a 3-5,000 day so, when spread over sixty some acres, it wasn’t bad at all. The ruins were pretty much as I remembered them. What I like about them is that with the entire city preserved, you can get a feel of daily life which isn’t possible at sites where just a palace or a few important buildings survive. Thomas, budding archeologist that he is, had never been before and was fascinated by all of what had survived. He has first hand knowledge of what it takes to get these sorts of physical remains out of the ground intact.
The weather was sunny, but cool so it was the perfect day to be prowling around Roman streets, thermae and fora. We could have spent many hours there but unfortunately the tour we were on only allowed a few. So it was back on the bus and a couple of dozen miles later we arrived in the town of Viteri on the Amalfi coast. It was a picture postcard perfect day. The town, like Sorrento and Amalfi and Positano dropped from the cliffs down to the azure Mediterranean and it was blessedly empty. I have seen what happens to the Amalfi coast towns in high season with the narrow streets shoulder to shoulder with thousands of people. Not today. It was possible to enjoy the views, some shopping, a nice lunch of pesto and limoncello spritz in a sidewalk café and feel like the town was made just for us. It was most pleasant. Then back over the mountains to the ship.
After nearly two weeks of trip, we were a bit fatigued and although we were in port for a couple of more hours, we decided a nap was a better use of time. More pasta for dinner tonight (carbonara) and then getting the big bags ready for pickup and disembarkation tomorrow. We are at the pier at Civitavecchia in the morning, need to get ourselves back up to Rome, and then have 24 hours for a last carouse before boarding flights on Saturday for the return flights home. It may not have been the trip I planned, but it’s been a good one. Trying to rev myself back up for work and for Arsenic and Old Lace, both of which will be hitting me up the side of the head shortly after I get home.
